The CD Is Skipping
by marymin
Summary: Minific requests from tumblr. Feel free to make requests here too. Warning: Now contains nsfw
1. Shinene Love-hate relationship

"Nice shot, Master!" Ene squeaked, dodging sideways and shifting weapons from her heavy blaster to some small laser pistol. "But not nice enough!" At his computer, Shintaro swore. He hadn't unlocked that one yet.

Her in-game avatar, which looked just like her but clad in heavy boots and futuristic armor, raised the pistol and fired at his character one handed. Again, Shintaro's avatar collapsed to the ground and 'Game Over!' began to blink across the screen.

Behind the rage-inducing words, he could see her model leaning down to kiss his 'dead' corpse, full on the mouth. He gripped the edge of his desk, unintelligible curses grinding between his clenched teeth as her pixelated hand stroked down the dead face of the video game model that looked both not enough and too much like him. It was infuriating, the things she could make this game do. Things that should never be possible. He hated cheaters like her.


	2. Fem Seto X Fem Kano

"It's okay," the taller girl said as the other's fingers carded through her short black hair. It would hurt, if Kano's nails weren't bitten short to the point of bleeding. She leaned down to kiss her, soft and gentle and comforting. "It's okay," Seto promised again, and the girl below her regarded her with narrowed eyes and a wide grin, seemingly fine.

Seto knew better. They two had been walking home when a man, taller even than Seto, had stopped them both, asking if they were doing anything that night. The man had grabbed Seto's arm, and before she knew what was happening Kano had kicked him hard, before grabbing her hand and running. Seto had seen the glint of a folded pocketknife in the man's hand, and she could feel the terror running through the smaller girl even now, even as she leaned down to press a kiss to the corner of that toothy grin.

The heels of Kano's chunky black boots dug into her lower back, and she thought about complaining that the blonde was ruining her work uniform, but she knew that Kano needed her close now, so she shut her mouth and dedicated herself to turning that fake smile into a real and genuine one. It didn't take long at all.


	3. Kido thinks Kano's lying, but he's not

"If you think you're going to get sympathy from me, it's not happening," Kido declared as she walked into the room. Kano was lounging on the couch, and he glanced up as she came in.

"Woah, _rude_," he said with his hands raised defensively, "since when did I want something like that from you anyway?"

Her eyes narrowed, and she pointed to his arm, where a wide ace bandage wrapped around his wrist and halfway to his elbow. "I know you can hide any injury, or make any injury appear. So clearly, you want something. And you're using that to get it."

Kano laughed, disbelieving, and followed her with his eyes as she crossed the room to sit on the other couch. "What if I'm genuinely injured. Won't you feel bad then?"

"Not one bit," she replied loftily, lifting her chin.

He whined. "It's just too tiring to hide something like this. I don't know why you're doubting me. It _hurts_. It hurts right here." he patted his uninjured hand on his chest, approximately where he imagined his heart would be if he had one.

"I'm doubting you," she gritted, already sick of dealing with him, "because every word out of that stupid mouth of yours is a lie, and I'm sick of it. That injury isn't real, and both of us know it."

Right as she spoke, Seto wandered into the room, and his eyes caught on Kano's bandage. "Oh hey, sorry about your wrist again," he said as he walked between them to get a book from one of the shelves. "I don't know my own strength, I guess." Behind his back, Kano pointed to the bandage, and then mimed a heart breaking in half. Kido raised her eyes to the ceiling as if to say 'god give me strength'.


	4. Mary falls asleep in a pile of laundry

It was Mary's turn to do laundry, and she dragged her stool over to the dryer, pulling out first a large blanket. That was easy enough to fold, and she laid it down on the floor to take to the other room later. Next were armfuls of shirts that fell beyond her knees when she held them up, so she figured they were probably Seto's. They could be Konoha's, she guessed, but she'd never seen him in other clothes. Plus, some of these shirts looked familiar, she thought, as she held up a tshirt with the logo of some video store that had long gone of out of business. It was so old that the fabric had been worn thin and soft, and she breathed in the smell of the detergent they all used. It smelled like home to her, and a content smile crossed her face.

Folding the shirts was hard, because they were so big, but she managed for awhile, hanging up the few collared ones even though they'd have to be ironed later. At the bottom of the dryer she discovered something that made her grin ear to ear. It wasn't Seto's, or at least, not anymore; it was her white jacket with stitched on roses, and she put it on immediately, feeling the warmth sink into her bones. She was tired from working at folding the shirts, so she curled up on the pile just for a few minutes to enjoy the heat from the dryer. Her eyelids were surprisingly heavy, and before she knew it she was asleep.

Some point later, she woke up to find herself even more surrounded with the detergent smell, with an underlying smell that made her feel safe and cared for and made her want to go back to sleep. She creaked her eyes open anyway. She was wrapped in the big blanket, she found, and the warmth was no longer coming from the fabric but from a big body lying next to hers, an arm thrown across her shoulders. She rolled over to double check, but she already knew it was Seto before she saw his sleeping face, his mouth hanging open in a silly expression. She giggled a little, but yawned immediately after, and snuggled back up against him to fall back asleep.


	5. SetoMary and Timeloops

"I'll see you tomorrow!" she says eagerly, and he waves.

"Bye," she says, and then it slips out, too much of a habit from another lifetime. "Love you!"

He stops waving.

"…huh?" he says weakly, and she already knows it's a mistake. He is four feet and three inches of nervous eleven year old boy and she is a monster who is more than a hundred years old in body and several times that in mind.

She could explain it away. Say she's used to saying it to her mom, she didn't mean it, or that he's like a part of her family anyway. She doesn't lie to him.

"I do. Don't you love me?"

(She knows he does because he says it to her, at least once a timeline and sometimes more. Sometimes he only says it over his shoulder, arms spread wide, _I love you, I'll protect you, _before going off to die. Sometimes he says it more, ten times, a hundred times, whispered into her hair and murmured into her neck and pressed into her forehead with a hundred million thousand kisses that she selfishly keeps in her memory each time she resets.)

He looks confused though, and she feels her bones curl, feels regret and anger and frustration because of course he does. He always did.

She can't get an answer from him and he excuses himself somehow, and doesn't come back the next day, or the day after that.

It's another timeline where he doesn't say it until it's too late, because he doesn't answer her until years (years too short) later when his jaw trembles and everyone is dead, and he breaks down and says "I do, I did, I'm sorry," and then he's gone.

Mary takes her blank slate and turns it over in her hands, wonders how she can play differently this time. Wonders what she should do to make the most of the time they will have. It will always be too short.


	6. SetoMary, but Seto is actually Kano

Takes place during/before The Kinds of Alive You Can Be

Mary was rubbing shampoo into her hair, an arduous task that would take her hours. Already, her arms were aching, and she wasn't even half done. Behind her, she heard the door slide open, and she squeaked, covering her chest with her crossed arms, even though her back was to the door, and her hair covered her from behind all the way down to the edge of the bathtub anyway.

There was a shuffling noise behind her, and then Seto's voice answered her. "Sorry about that! I just thought I'd do some laundry and get your dress while I was at it."

Goosebumps rose on her neck and shoulders, and she tried to ignore them. He didn't even _sound _nervous. "It's fine," she mumbled, waiting for him to leave. Instead, there was a moment of silence, and then his footsteps moved closer. She twisted around in surprise, opening her mouth to shout at him or to ask him what he was doing, but he cupped the back of her head, his big hand sliding in the shampoo, and kissed her full on the mouth.

She couldn't figure out why he wasn't embarrassed, why she wasn't embarrassed— she grabbed his shirt, making dark wet patches where she touched him. After a second, he pulled away and patted her head, saying,

"You missed a spot," and dabbed soap suds onto the tip of her nose. Then he left, her dress hanging over his arm, and she watched him go, breathing hard. She was missing _something _alright.


	7. Kuroene

"They all break in time," Kuroha crooned, settling down on his nest of limbs torn from bodies. In his hand he held a cell phone, the screen glowing bright in the darkness. "Even she leaves for another timeline. But not you. You'll stay with me forever, right?"

The girl on the screen puffed up her cheeks and turned away from him, the display purposefully childish.

"Ah, don't ignore me. That's no fun at all." He stroked the screen, rubbing the pads of his bloodstained fingers over her electric hair, her clean jersey. Somehow, he couldn't taint her. He couldn't destroy her. But soon he would find a way.

"I'm going to take you apart," he whispered lovingly, pressing his lips to the screen where her face was, and though she cringed, she didn't try to leave the screen.


	8. Hiyori

They all wanted things from her. Her parents wanted their perfect little girl. The teachers wanted the obedient student who only flashed her wit when it benefited them. The boys in her class wanted her to be a princess, an idol. The girls hated her, or at least most of them did, and so she hated the lot.

They complimented her, told her that she was pretty, that she was so smart, that her sarcasm was cute. They didn't laugh. They only wanted to use her, so it was only fair that she use them back, asking her parents sweetly for the newest phone. Telling the teacher that she wanted a desk by the window. Making that boy carry her books, do her homework, buy her lunch— and still they looked at her like she was doing everything right, and she hated it.

But then.

There was a strange boy who looked at her like she was something new. He listened to her words without facial expression, absorbing every little bit of information. He picked her up when she asked, he reached for things on high shelves. But he did it without expectations. She realized, that for the first time, here was someone who didn't want something of her.

She needed him. She needed that blank stare. She needed a conversation where she could say harsh things without surprised laughter, without being patronized.

She wouldn't let anything come between them.


	9. KanoXKidoXSeto (NSFW)

Kido should have expected it to end up like this when they'd moved out and ended up living together, without any adults. But still she was a little confused about the process, about how exactly she'd gotten here, on her back in her bed with Seto covering the hollow of her neck with kisses and Kano pushing her shirt up to do the same to her stomach.

It shouldn't be hot. They were her foster brothers, and furthermore they were both idiots. But Kano reappeared in her line of sight and kissed her sloppily, pushing Seto's head out of the way so he could lean over her properly, and Kido felt heat sweep through her. Seto whined in disappointment, and Kido felt around for him with one hand, catching ahold of his shirt and dragging him back down before he think to leave.

Kano wasn't satisfied with just kissing her; his hand was dipping under the hem of her pajama pants already, and Kido squirmed at the strange feeling of his long fingers against her thigh. There were lips on the curve of her hip and Kido suddenly realized she'd forgotten about Seto, and she wouldn't be able to see him even if her eyes were open as Kano kissed her. The lips moved to the edge of her rib cage, and her bra was being shoved up messily, and that was the last straw. Kido pushed them both away, sitting up and gasping as the motion made Kano's hand press briefly against her.

"Are you cavemen?" she demanded angrily, and they stared back at her, Seto looking upset and confused and Kano amused, a crooked smile on his face. "It's not that hard," she mumbled, reaching around and undoing her bra. Seto choked a gasp of relief, glad he hadn't messed up that badly, and Kano raised an eyebrow.

"Don't just sit there," she growled as she pushed the straps off her shoulders, "take your shirts off, then." No one was getting any sleep tonight.


	10. FemSetoXMary NSFW

Seto stroked Mary's hair and kissed her forehead, mumbling, "it's okay, it's okay." The small girl tossed and turned in her arms, obviously having a bad dream. She didn't want to wake her, but if she started crying or yelling she'd wake up Kano, and then she'd be upset and embarrassed for the rest of the day. She kissed her forehead again, then her lips, and in her sleep Mary responded, calming down and kissing her back. Seto pulled away after a moment, feeling guilty.

The feeling only got worse as Mary opened her eyes. "Seto?" she whined, blinking sleep-tears from her eyes, and Seto offered her a smile, shushing her. Mary's eyes flickered to Kano's bed and then back to Seto's face. She bit her lip. "Did you kiss me?" she asked, her voice barely audible, and for a moment Seto considered pretending that she hadn't heard her. But then she nodded slowly, and Mary wriggled closer. "Will you do it again?" she asked, and Seto couldn't say no to her.

She kissed her gently at first, her fingers combing through her hair, but Mary seemed almost desperate, winding her arms around her neck and pulling the two of them close. Seto's breath stuttered in her throat as Mary worked a thin leg between hers, intent on wrapping both of her legs around one of Seto's. When Mary pulled away, shifting downwards to be closer to her and nuzzle into her chest, Seto tried to keep her breath even. "Mary, we have to be quiet—" she whispered into her hair, and Mary's breath puffed out against her chest. She should probably start wearing more than a sports bra and shorts to bed, if she was going to let the other girl sleep here too.

"I'll be quiet," Mary insisted, and Seto opened her mouth to say that even whispering was too loud, when Mary adjusted her nightgown so the hem was up around her waist and then ground against her leg. The larger girl had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out, but Mary kept going, and Seto felt for a handhold on her, her fingers just missing her shoulder and ending up with her palm on her chest, the small curve of Mary's chest making her flush. Mary seized her wrist before she could pull away, pressing Seto's hand against her, and Seto shook her off, but only so she could rub her thumb over her breast through the fabric.

Mary squeaked, and Seto immediately released her to clap both hands over the white-haired girl's mouth, but it was too late.

"By all means, keep going," Kano's dry voice drawled from the other bed. "Pretend I'm not here."

Mary's face burned with embarrassment under Seto's fingers, and they stared at each other with wide eyes, unable to come up with a good excuse.


	11. Konoene (NSFW)

Anyone who knew Konoha wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary. He was bent over a cellphone, one that probably belonged to Shintaro or Momo, and talking calmly in his quiet voice. He and Ene had been becoming close lately, so it wasn't strange.

On closer inspection…

"Ah, you should take care of that…" he murmured, sounding nothing but concerned.

"That's your fault!" a shrill voice echoed from the tinny speakers, and he just blinked back slowly. "if you hadn't— started talking about things like that— how'm I supposed to—"

Konoha believed he knew the answer to her question, whether she'd really wanted one or not. "I've seen this," he commented, "on the internet." It seemed like he was done, and then he added, "…you'll want to put your hand between your legs."

A muffled cry of frustration blared from the screen, but on it, the little digital girl couldn't help but listen to his advice, sliding her pixeled hand up one thigh, then under her skirt. If only he would keep talking.

As though he'd heard her thoughts, he continued. "And then I think you just… rub, somehow? I think you can put your fingers in if you want—"

What Ene really wanted was to scream, to tell him to take the phone somewhere private, to have someone touch her after two long years of being nothing but data. "Tell me what you'd do," she gasped.

Konoha paused. "I'm a boy, so—"

"Tell me what you'd do to _me_,_" _she clarified, trembling, and he nodded in understanding.

"At first, I think I'd unzip your jersey. It looks kind of uncomfortable?" He tilted his head to the side.

Ene hurried to comply.


	12. Harutaka

When Takane walked into the classroom, Haruka flipped his sketchbook over. She froze, baffled. Haruka was always eager to share his art with her, even when she didn't want to see it.

"What are you drawing," she asked in a flat voice, trying not to care. She generally didn't pay any attention to what he did in his spare time, but the fact that he was trying to hide it was suspicious.

"Nothing!" Haruka laughed a little. She did not believe him.

Takane waited until he had looked away and zoned out, cushioning his cheek on his palm. Then she struck, snatching the sketchbook out from under his elbow and flipping it page-up. She stared.

"Did you—"

"I'm sorry!" he wailed, trying to wrest it back from her. "I just wanted to draw your oc and my oc and they ended up kissing and _I didn't mean for it to happen!"_


	13. KidoxMomo

"I like this one!" Momo said cheerfully, holding up a black bikini top that seemed barely held together by strings. Kido gulped. She didn't know how she'd cope if Momo ever actually wore that thing.

"Don't you think that's a little…small?" she asked, trying to be tactful, though her eyes flickered to Momo's chest before she could stop them.

Momo turned red, but grinned toothily back. "That's 'caus it's not for me," she said with a snicker, holding it up against the fabric of her girlfriend's hoodie and tilting her head as she pictured it.

Kido felt her face go hot. "Oh."


	14. Kano and His Mother (Child abuse TW)

"You're being so good today," she cooed, running her long-nailed fingers through his short hair.

Shuuya squirmed in her lap when the edge of her nail scraped across a still-healing scab on his temple, but he didn't pull away, instead just turning another page of his picture book. He was just glad she was happy. She'd been so sad yesterday.


	15. TakaneXKido

"Oi, Ayano, you forgot…your…." Kido's voice trailed off as a goddess came into her line of vision.

A short girl with square shoulders was scowling over at them, and Kido had never seen anyone so beautifully furious before. She looked older than either of them. Kido lowered her voice, even though she was wearing headphones and couldn't possibly hear her.

"Who's _that,_" she whispered reverently, and Ayano looked around.

"Ah, that's Takane!" She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Takane, come meet my little sister!"

Kido, meanwhile, was frantically flapping at her with both hands. "No, stop! Don't call her over! I—-hrmph!"


	16. SetoXKanoXKido (NSFW)

"A-ah, wait, hang on," Kano gasped, jerking away from Kido but backing into Seto's chest in the same movement.

"Come _on,"_ Kido growled, reaching for him again, but Seto stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder. They locked eyes, all three breathing hard.

"Are you okay?" Seto asked him, sounding concerned, and much too put-together for someone who until a second ago had had his hand down the front of Kano's jeans. Kano covered his face and laughed.

"Of course, of course! I just, yknow, gotta pee. You two keep going." He hopped off the bed, and turned to walk away from them, missing the silent conversation Seto and Kido had with their faces behind his back.

"Oh no you don't. The truth, now." Kido said, catching the back of his shirt. Her stern voice made him shiver, and Kano wanted nothing more than to come back to the bed and let them keep going.

"I can't," he said, and that was as much as they were going to get from him.

"…We'll go slow?" Seto pleaded, and he sounded like nothing more than a child trying to bargain for a piece of candy. Kano hesitated, then turned around, his eyes flickering back and forth between the two of them. Kido had already shed her hoodie and shirt, and Seto's hair was ruffled in the back, from where they'd been running their fingers through it. They were both flushed, and Kano knew he would be too, if he would only let it show.

"Ahh, what big babies, won't even let me take a bathroom break," he quipped, but he crossed the room back to them, taking a moment to undo his belt and wriggle out of his pants. Seto made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, and Kido was already reaching for him as he flopped down on the bed between them.

If he concentrated hard enough, he wouldn't lose control, he thought fiercely, though his thoughts became more and more disorganized as Kido's nails raked down his ribs and Seto's teeth closed on the skin just under his ear.


	17. Seto and Kano have a silly fight

"You've ruined my liiiiiiife," Kano wailed dramatically, sprawled on the couch.

"It's not a huge deal!" Seto protested, raising his hands defensively. Resting on Kano's stomach were the remains of a crushed vhs tape. Kano gave another melodramatic sob for good measure, holding the fragments close.

"I can't believe you put your foot through my recording of every 1997 commercial that ever existed. You're a _monster._"

"You can't just leave stuff on the floor!" Seto yelled back in exasperation, completely failing to see the seriousness of the situation.


	18. SetoXShintaro, accidental kiss

Shintaro stabbed at the touch screen of his phone. Lately it had been slower and slower every time Ene left it, and he couldn't believe she'd ruined such an expensive piece of technology. He drifted into the main room, glancing up quickly to see that the only occupant was Seto, who was sitting on the couch. He looked up as Shintaro came in.

"Yo!"

Shintaro was pretty sure he waved, but just then his phone froze up and he turned all his attention to it, muttering angrily. He took a few steps further into the room.

"Hey, watch out, there's—"

Shintaro's shoe caught on a discarded book, and he slipped and fell, crashing half into the other boy and the sofa too. His phone went flying and skittered across the floor. Somehow, also, his face bumped into Seto's, their teeth clacking together painfully.

"Shit—I didn't, I—" Shintaro cursed, scrambling to his feet, but Seto just laughed it off.

"Don't worry about it!"

Shintaro did indeed worry about it.


	19. SetoMary, Halloween (NSFW)

Mary and Momo were supposed to be going trick-or-treating together. Momo had provided the costumes (herself as a princess and Mary as a witch), and had promised to pick up the smaller girl.

Seto's phone buzzed, and he picked up to see a text from the idol stating that she'd be late, and asking if he could tell Mary for her. Also, there was a winky face, whatever that meant.

He shrugged and put his phone down, before going to knock at Mary's bedroom door. "Hey," he called out, letting her know it was him.

"S-seto? …you can come in!" Her voice sounded unsure, and he hesitated before opening the door.

Mary was standing in front of her mirror, wrestling with the buttons on the back of her dress. She'd gotten them done up to about her mid-back, but was having trouble with the ones at the level of her shoulder blades.

"I can't reach," she complained, and Seto immediately moved to help her, noticing right away that the dress was a lot smaller than it had looked in the packaging. He wondered if that was just the shirt, and there was a skirt lying around here somewhere, but glancing around revealed no extra costume pieces but for a pair of striped stockings hanging over the back of her chair.

Flushing and trying to concentrate on his task, he quickly did up the rest of her buttons.

"Thank you!" she said cheerily, spinning around and smiling up at him, and he grinned back weakly. She hurried over to grab the stockings, and he noticed her rushed movements as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Oh! That's right! Momo wanted me to tell you she's going to be pretty late." The memory of Momo's text grounded him a little, and he pulled out the cellphone to distract himself as she pulled on the stockings.

"Really? That's great!" She beamed and skipped closer, taking the phone out of his hand. "I don't have to rush then, right? Help me with these too?"

Seto didn't possibly see how he could help her with stockings, and looking to find out turned out to be sort of a bad idea. They came up to just a few inches below the hem of the short skirt, and apparently they didn't stay up. As he watched, she tugged them higher with quick, impatient movements.

"Momo gave me these things, like suspenders?" She was saying, and as he watched she lifted her skirt just a little higher, and he just about had a heart attack. The action revealed garters, and she clipped up the stockings, straightening back up and brushing off her skirt.

She looked at him with a challenge in her eyes. Seto had the feeling she knew exactly what she was doing. "I can't reach the ones in the back," she said, taking a step closer until she stood between his knees. His seat on the bed no longer seemed so distant and safe. "I need your help with them."

Seto didn't see how he would be much of an improvement. Obviously he wouldn't be able to look. But against his better judgement he reached around to the back of her right leg, feeling at the back of her thigh for the other clip. His wrist brushed the inside of her thigh and she shivered. Somehow, his fumbling fingers found the end of the strap and he clipped her stocking up, quickly switching to work on the other one.

He looked up at her face, to avoid looking at her shaking legs and his hands, and she was chewing her lip, her face a bright red. For the third time he accidentally dropped the hem of her stocking, and his hands jerked with nerves.

"Seto," she whimpered, fidgeting again, and he threw caution out the door, pulling her down to kiss him. Mary kissed him back gratefully, her arms winding around his neck, and she half crawled into his lap, making it hard for him to get his hand back where it was before between her legs.

He'd almost managed it, only to find that however the garters connected under her skirt, it was not at all conducive to getting her underwear down, when his phone went off again.

"let me know when you're done, also use protection!" it said, and there was another one of those winky faces again. He gaped at the screen, and Mary leaned over to see what it said, squeaking in embarrassment when she put the pieces together. Seto didn't know whether to be embarrassed or grateful to Momo, and he settled for kissing Mary again until he figured it out.


	20. MomoMary, clumsy kiss

"Ahh, we need to find Kido soon," Mary whined, drawing her arms close around herself, doing her best not to meet the eyes of anyone in the crowd. Momo tugged at her hood to make sure it stayed up.

"We'll find her. I'm sure of it!" she said with a grin, pumping her fist confidently. Mary didn't look too convinced, and after a second Momo took her hand. "No one's looking at us now. Let's just go back to the base and if we meet her on the way, then all the better."

Mary sniffled, but clung to Momo's hand like it was a lifeline. Slowly, they made their way back home, and Momo tried to keep calm. Suddenly, she stopped.

"Hey, I bet if we could get over this wall, it'd be a great shortcut," she said, her brain quickly constructing a map of their surroundings. Momo tipped her head back to examine the short wall. It wouldn't be too hard.

A few minutes later, and she'd constructed a sort-of staircase out of trashcans and abandoned crates. "I'll hold it still and you go over!" she said, confidence about her plan burning through her.

Looking frail and unsure, Mary clambered onto the first crate, then lifted her skirts to climb onto the trash bin. She made it all the way up to the wall, sitting on top and swinging her legs over to the other side, before freezing up.

"How do I get down?" she whimpered, and tears swam in her eyes. Momo hadn't thought of that part.

"No worries, I'm coming to get you!" she called, cupping her hand around her mouth before hoisting herself onto the wall as well. She straddled the wall, beaming at Mary so she wouldn't freak out. "See? Easy as pie. Now I'll lower you down."

The second Mary grabbed her hands Momo knew her balance was off, and then somehow they both were falling off the wall, crashing to the ground to land on, thank god, a pile of old magazines that at least kept them from breaking any bones.

"Owwww," Momo gasped, opening her eyes to find Mary's nose maybe an inch from her face. At least Mary had landed on her, cushioning her fall a little. Still, the tiny girl's eyes filled with tears, and Momo couldn't have that, so she leaned up and kissed her without thinking. Anything to keep her from crying, really.


	21. Harutaka, missed chances

Their lives have been a series of missed chances. She never told him, never confessed to him before she died. The next time she sees him, he's not him, but that's okay because she's not her either. It makes it easy to pretend. Well, easier, anyway.

But then in some sideways twisted painful timeline (by now she is aware there are more than one) he remembers, and he turns to her and gasps in pain— _in horror— _"Takane?"

And that's it for that chance too.

But everything's over, and the memories slot into place in her head one morning while she ties the laces on her red sneakers, ready for her morning run with her healthy, living body. Her hands shake, the texture of the white string between them suddenly too much, too harsh.

And she's running for real this time. (Again.)

She's breathing hard when she reaches the hospital, but there's plenty of time, so she doesn't know why she was running so hard. Takane throws open the door to his room, and he's hunched over his sketch pad, all ash-hair and constellation-freckles. He looked up, startled. And then tears well up in his eyes.

"God _damn it," _she grits between her teeth, taking one-two-three big steps to his bedside because she almost didn't remember, almost missed this chance too. The sketchpad gets crushed between their bodies when she hugs him, but neither of them care. He sobs her name— _Takane— _and she wonders vaguely why she is healthy now and he is not. It doesn't seem fair, somehow.

He kisses her to make sure she's there (she is), and it's their twenty-fifty-thousandth chance and they will not mess up this time, they will not lose each other.


	22. SetoMary, smooch

Seto's half asleep when Mary stirs from where her head is resting on his chest. He wants to ask her what she needs, but he's way too tired, and not even remotely prepared when she tilts her head up and presses a tiny kiss to the bottom of his jaw.

He's not sure what noise he makes but it's probably not very dignified, and she hides her face in his shirt, her voice muffled when she says, "I thought you were _asleep."_

The spot she kissed is still burning but he clumsily pets her hair. "It's okay, I was just surprised, promised." Slowly, she emerges, and her face is so red under her fluffy white bangs that he has to bite his lip not to laugh, because he knows she'd just get mad. "You don't have to be sneaky," he promises, craning upwards to kiss her on the forehead.

She puffs up her cheeks, dissatisfied, and then he really does laugh and kisses both her cheeks before she gets impatient and grabs his collar, and then they don't stop kissing until Kano comes in half an hour later and offers to get out the video camera.


End file.
